Special Town Meeting July 26 for theater, package store

Friday

Jun 29, 2007 at 2:00 AM

By Jason Graziadei I&M Staff Writer

The possible acquisition by the town of two downtown properties – the Dreamland Theater and Island Spirits package store – highlights the warrant of a rare summertime Special Town Meeting that has been scheduled by the Board of Selectmen.

A quorum of more than 400 registered voters will be needed to conduct any business when the meeting convenes July 26 at 7 p.m. in the Nantucket High School auditorium.

Although the Selectmen had declined to hold a special town meeting in the fall to deal with issues relating to the Nantucket and Madaket Harbors Action Plan, a citizen’s petition filed at the Town Clerk’s office forced the Selectmen to schedule the July meeting.

Article 1, the citizen’s petition sponsored by Denby Real Estate owner Flint Ranney, seeks the acquisition of the historic Dreamland Theater by the town through purchase, gift or eminent-domain taking. The petition was also circulated by Selectman Michael Kopko and Nantucket Film Festival founder Jonathan Burkhart, as well as Gene Mahon and Susan Cary. After Kopko was unable to convince his fellow board members to support a Selectmen-sponsored article to acquire the Dreamland, the petition was filed at the Town Clerk’s office.

Although a private sale of the downtown theater from current owner Haim Zahavi to local businessman Rick Ulmer, who owns the Rose and Crown and Foood for Here and There, is being negotiated, the sponsors of the petition are still seeking the authorization that would allow he town to pursue a municipal acquisition of the Dreamland.

Kopko said he hopes Ulmer’s bid for the Dreamland is ultimately successful, but maintained that it is important for the town to authorize the Selectmen to acquire the theater in case the deal falls through, or other circumstances result in the property going back on the market in the future.

The petition states that the town would “enter into a long-term lease for the renovation and operation of a Community Arts Center for a period of time of 20 years,” if it successfully acquires the theater. Any purchase would be contingent upon the approval of a debt exclusion override at a future town meeting.

Zahavi, a member of Dreamland ZMG, which owns the building, purchased it in 2005 for $6 million from four island families. Since taking it over, his proposed renovation project to convert it into a multi-use venue including a theater, restaurant, condominiums and a lounge, has been beset by problems in the permitting process, and it has remained closed since the end of the 2005 season.

Article 3, another proposal that seeks authorization for the town to purchase a downtown property, would give the Selectmen the authority to pursue the acquisition of the Island Spirits package store property on Washington Street. If the parcel is acquired, the article states the board would then “sell, lease, convey or otherwise make such property available to the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority.”

Planning director Andrew Vorce said the town hopes to use the property for a transit station for NRTA shuttles if the article is successful.

“The purpose would be for a transit station,” Vorce said. “We don’t have an actual design at this point. The advantage is it would work with the direction of traffic and it would take the buses off the adjacent street.”

The purchase would be funded through land transfers from the town to the Land Bank, including nine parcels that the town was authorized to sell to the Land Bank at the 2007 Annual Town Meeting. The nine one- to two-acre lots are vacant land the form a corridor from Surfside Road to Western Avenue. The town also plans to sell approximately 17.8 acres known as the “Wood Property” at 55 Warren’s Landing Road in Madaket to the Land Bank to help fund the purchase of the Washington Street property.

Island Spirits, owned by Bill and Carol Reith, closed its doors for good earlier this year after operating as a summer-only package store for the past few years.

Article 2, submitted by the Selectmen on behalf of the Planning Board, would authorize the town to dispose of a 651 square-foot parcel at the new Sparks Avenue/Hooper Farm Road roundabout that was unused during the project. Transportation planner Mike Burns said priority will be given to the land owners abutting the parcel during the disposal process from the property.

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